Last Sunday was what we call Epiphany Sunday on the yearly church calendar. It's that Sunday that's closest to January 6th. January 6th is called Epiphany, the traditional day in the church when we remember Christ's epiphany to the world. Now the word epiphany means appearing. or manifestation, or revelation. It's actually a word used in the Bible. Here's a couple of places in the New Testament where we see it. 2 Timothy 1.10, of our salvation in Jesus, it speaks, which, and I'll quote, has been manifested through the appearing, that's the epiphany, the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ who abolished death and brought life and immortality to the light through the gospel. So this is a reference to Christ's appearing in human history. And here's another quote from 1 Timothy 6, verse 4, which says, keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing, that is the epiphany, the Greek word is epiphany, the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. So here's a first coming and a second coming, his first appearing and his second appearing, his coming. So this is a biblical word, okay? Last Sunday, we looked at that great epiphany event, Jesus' baptism, and how this revealed him to be the son of God, his father, and we read from Mark chapter one, 11 through 13. Today, I want us to consider another manifestation of Jesus as the Messiah, the Christ of God, It's an incident found in three of the gospels, the cleansing of the temple. We're going to be looking at John's account of the cleansing of the temple. So I'm going to read it here. Chapter 2 of John, verses 13 through 17. The scripture says, the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple, he found those who were selling oxen, sheep, and pigeons. and the money changers sitting there. And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple with a sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. And he told those who sold the pigeons, take these things away. Do not make my father's house a house of trade. His disciples remembered that it was written, zeal for your house will consume me. Let's pray and ask the Lord's blessing. Holy and gracious God, in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ, we come with thanksgiving today for the great treasure and the revelation of your word, for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints in your word. Open up to us now this portion of your word and teach us about our Lord's zeal for His Father's house, we pray. Amen. Now, in order to help us get an understanding of what's going on here, I want to divide this section into four parts. Here's what they are. We're going to look at the disturbing practice. We're going to look at the decisive action. We're going to look at the devoted son. And then we're going to look at the devout worshiper. Okay? Throughout this passage, there's one truth that stands out. Jesus was consumed with zeal for his father's house. So let's think about what's going on here. First of all, the historical incident, which I'm calling the disturbing practice. Well, verse 13, we see that the time when this was happening was the Jewish Passover, and it said Jesus had gone up He'd gone up to Jerusalem. Now, that's because Jerusalem was considered to be like the highest point on the earth, because that's where the temple was. That's where you go up to God, okay? Even though maybe the altitude wasn't the highest in the country, okay? So he had gone up to Jerusalem, and it was the time of the year in the spring when the Passover festival took place. Now the reason for the Passover festival was to remember the Jews' deliverance from Egypt, the exodus, and how God told the people to take a lamb into their house on the 10th day of the month, on the 14th day of the month they were to kill it. and roast it and put the blood on the doorpost of their house. And when the death angel passed through the land and killed all the firstborn of the Egyptians, he would pass over the house of the Jews and they would be safe. And then they were able to leave Egypt and escape to the Red Sea. Well, this was one of the great festivals of the Jews that they celebrated three times a year. They would go to Jerusalem and celebrate these great religious festivals. So this is why Jesus was in Jerusalem at this time. It was the Passover festival. But when he went to the temple, he was very disturbed by what he saw. He was disturbed by all these animals and this money changing going on because he was consumed with zeal for his father's house. Now, he went into the temple. Now, the temple consisted of four compartments, or four courtyards, okay? The inner courtyard, and the very center was the Holy of Holies, the building where the Ark of the Covenant was. But the inner courtyard was the courtyard of the priests. And then there was the courtyard of the men, or the courtyard of the Hebrews, where the Jewish men would come to worship. And then there was the courtyard of the women, And then on the very outskirts, all around the building, was what's called the Court of the Gentiles. This was the only part of the temple where the Gentiles were allowed to go. If you weren't a Jew, you couldn't go any further than that. So those who wanted to worship Yahweh, who were Jews, had to pass through the outer courtyard to get to the either the court of the women or the court of the Hebrews or the court of the priest. Well, in Isaiah 56, verses six and seven, there's a reference to this worship of the Gentiles. So let me read you just these two verses from Isaiah 56. It helps us find out the origin of this calling of the Gentiles to worship Yahweh. It says, and the foreigners, it's the Gentiles, who join themselves to Yahweh to minister to him, to love the name of Yahweh and to be his servants. And everyone who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it and holds fast my covenant, these I will bring to my holy mountain and make them joyful in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar, for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples." Well, provision was made in the temple at Jerusalem for the peoples of the nations to come to the outer court. Well, These were what was known as God-fearers in the New Testament times. These were people, Gentiles, who had worshiped other gods, pagan idols, and they had learned about Yahweh God, and they saw the beauty, the glory, the holiness of the true God, and they gave themselves to his worship and his service. Now, if we read in John chapter 12, We see an example of these Gentiles who had come to Jerusalem to worship. It says in John 12, 20, among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks. So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, sir, we wish to see Jesus. So these Greeks had come down to worship. They heard about this prophet who was preaching and healing people, and they wanted to see him. Well, so these Greeks that day, and all the other Gentiles who had come to Jerusalem, would go to the outer courts. But what did they hear? What did they see? What did they hear? And what did they smell when they entered the outer court? They heard the mooing of cattle, and the bleating of sheep, and the cooing of pigeons. They not only saw these animals and heard them, but they smelled their manure and probably had to avoid stepping in it. This was their place of prayer. Well, besides that, they heard tingling noises. It was from money being changed in the money booths. Money booths have been set up, and there was a great deal of money being exchanged there. Why was this? What was happening? Well, it's because according to the Jewish law, when a man got to be 20 years old, he had to pay half a shekel temple tax to help maintain the temple and its worship. And when he came to Jerusalem, He couldn't just use any money, any coins that he wanted to. It had to be changed into temple money. The money that was acceptable in the temple. So maybe he lived in Rome. He had Roman coins. So when he came there he had to exchange his Roman coins for the temple money. And so the money changers were there and they were doing that and they paid a fee. I mean they received a fee for doing this. Probably an exorbitant fee. Well, they came from all over the empire. There were tens of thousands of people who ascended, not decently, they ascended because they said they went up to Jerusalem to the city for these great festivals of worship. Now, many of these people wanted to make sacrifices for their sins. They wanted to offer animals to cover their sins. But if they came from a long distance, it was rather impractical to bring an oxen with you or a sheep. I guess you could carry a lamb or a pigeon. But it was acceptable to come to Jerusalem without the animals that you needed and to purchase them there. So this is a big operation going on there three times a year. the purchase of animals for sacrifice was a legitimate practice. There was nothing wrong with it. The problem was where it was happening. It's happening in the temple courts. It should have been happening outside somewhere, a few hundred yards away. And the exchanging of money was unacceptable, a legitimate practice, but where it was happening was again the problem. It was happening in the place of the worship of the Gentiles. It needed to be happening outside the temple area somewhere. How could a Gentile kneel down and pray with all these animals around him? With all the noise, with the money changers, talking back and forth, you know, you give me five of your Roman coins and I'll give you two and a half shekels here. Well, how could a Gentile even hear himself think with all this noise going on? So when Jesus saw all this, he was very disturbed. No doubt he had seen this before many times when he had come to Jerusalem three times a year. But something was different now. It's because he'd been baptized by John. Because the Holy Spirit had descended upon him from heaven. He had been anointed as the Messiah. He'd been anointed with the authority of God. He was the Son of God. His public ministry had begun. When he entered the temple that time, he carried with him the divine authority of the Messiah, of the Son of God, and things were different. He wasn't just an observer. He was the incarnated God who walked into the temple that day. He was disturbed that the worship of the Gentiles was being corrupted by greedy people who wanted to profit off the worshipers who were coming to Jerusalem. The worship of Yahweh was being trampled under the feet of profiteers. Money was in their thoughts, not God. The holy things had been replaced with the profane, the worldly things. the sacred things with the secular things, the eternal things with the temporary and passing things. The short-term goals of money and profit had tossed aside the long-term goals of worshiping Yahweh, the true God. So Jesus was disturbed because the zeal for his father's house had consumed him. So he decides to take decisive action. It says in verse 15, and making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple with the sheep and the oxen. He poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. And he told those who sold the pigeons, take these things away, do not make my father's house a house of trade. Jesus took decisive actions because the zeal for his father's house consumed him. Now, his actions may seem somewhat radical, but he was actually in the tradition of some of the prophets of old. Now, the nature and the depth of Jesus' zeal to protect worshippers from those who would interfere or deny their access can be seen in an Old Testament example of a priest of Israel named Phinehas. He was the grandson of Aaron. Aaron was the brother of Moses. I want to read you a portion from Numbers 25. In this incident, we, if we read about, I'm not going to read all of it to you, but just a few verses. We see in this incident that those who had parted, well, yeah, I do need to read part of it to you. Let's see, Numbers 25. Excuse me while I find it. Okay. Numbers 25, verse 1. While Israel lived in Shittim, the people began to whore with the daughters of Moab. These invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods. And the people ate and bowed down to their gods. from the Moabite gods. So Israel yoked himself to Baal of Peor, that's the pagan god. And the anger of Yahweh was kindled against Israel. And Yahweh said to Moses, take all the chiefs of the people and hang them in the sun before Yahweh that the fierce anger of Yahweh may turn away from Israel. And Moses said to the judges of Israel, each of you kill those of his men who have yoked themselves to Baal of Peor. And behold, one of the people of Israel came and brought a Midianite woman to his family in the sight of Moses and in the sight of the whole congregation of the people of Israel. And while they were weeping in the entrance of the tent of the meeting, and when Phinehas The son of Eliezer, the son of Aaron, the priest saw it. Now, this man brought this woman into the tent of meeting, the holy place, where Moses met with God. He had the audacity. The disrespect to take this pagan woman into the tent of meeting. And when Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, saw it, he rose, left the congregation, took a spear in his hand, and went after the man of Israel into the chamber and pierced both of them. The man and the woman. Pierced the woman through her belly, it says. Thus the plague on the people of Israel was stopped. Nevertheless, those who died by the plague were 24,000. Here's an example of a righteous judgment by the priest of God. What we see here is that these Israelite people, some of them, departed from their relationship with the true and living God, Yahweh. They embraced the pagan God, Baal, motivated these men by their desire, apparently, to have sex with the Moabite worshipers. It was such an offense, an abomination to Yahweh, that he sent a plague to the nation. He told Moses to execute capital punishment. on those who were doing this. So when Phinehas saw this man take one of these women into the tent of meeting of all places, he took a spear and he pierced both of them at one time. And Moses commended him saying, he was jealous with my jealousy among them. This is the kind of zeal that Jesus had. Jealousy for the protection of the worship of those who had a right to worship Yahweh. He was the anointed Son of God, anointed with authority to act as the incarnate God. He did this because the zeal for his Father's house consumed him. He took decisive action against this disturbing practice. Now, we read in verse 16. He told those who sold the pigeons, take these things away. Do not make my father's house a house of trade. So we see here the devoted son. Notice that he called the temple his father's house. He didn't say our father's house, he said my father's house. First time we hear Jesus say this phrase is when he was 12 years old in Luke chapter 2 verse 49. When he went into the temple, sat with the teachers of the law, his parents went back, to Nazareth, found out he was not with them and they hurried back to Jerusalem and searched for him and finally found him in the temple. And he said to them when they found him, why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my father's house? Jesus had some kind of recognition of his own special relationship with his father, that he was the father's son. The Father was His own Father. Now actually, this term, My Father's house, is used in the Gospel of John more than 40 times. Jesus addresses God as My Father. For example, in John chapter 5, verse 17 and following, Jesus had worked a miracle. And He was talking to the Pharisees, I believe it was. And he said, my father is working until now, and I am working. And then the scripture says, this was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own father, making himself equal with God. They were right. They understood. Writing between the lines. When he called God his father, he was referring to his own eternal relationship with his father, that he was indeed equal in deity with his father. Well, so there's this disturbing practice, this decisive action, this devotion of the son to his father. All this was because he was consumed with zeal for his father's Worship to protecting it from those who wanted to worship Now We also read verse 17 When they saw Jesus doing this The scripture says his disciples remembered that it was written zeal for your house will consume me now We don't know for sure when they recognized that, when they remembered that text, whether it was at that time or it was later when they began to think about all these things. Maybe it was both times. I don't know. But what Jesus is doing here, He's quoting a verse from Psalm 69. Now, Psalm 69 is a very interesting psalm. It's a psalm of David. I just want to read you part of it. The first nine verses down to this quote from verse nine. So David is praying. This is a prayer of David. He says, Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck. I sink in deep mire where there's no foothold. I've come into deep waters. The flood sweeps over me. I'm weary with my crying out. My throat is parched. My eyes grow dim with waiting for my God. More in number than the hairs of my head are those who hate me without cause. Mightier are those who would destroy me, those who attack me with lies. What did I not steal, what I did not steal, I must now, why must I now restore it? Oh God, you know my folly. The wrongs I have done are not hidden from you. So David was a sinner, right? God knew about his sins. He said, you know my father, you know my sins. Let not those who hope in you be put to shame through me, O Lord God of hosts. Let not those who seek you be brought to dishonor through me, O God of Israel. It is for your sake that I have borne reproach, that dishonor has covered my face. I have become a stranger to my brothers, an alien to my mother's sons. And here's verse 9. For zeal for your house has consumed me, and the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me. Well, David did have zeal for the worship of God. Remember, he wanted to build a temple for the Lord. The Lord had been living in a tent since they left Egypt. And they finally settled in Jerusalem, and David wanted to have a temple built for Yahweh. But Yahweh said, No. You got too much blood on your hands. I'm going to ordain your son, Solomon, to build the temple." That's what happened. But he had zeal for the worship of God. He had zeal for the house of God. He appointed a great choir of professional singers, we could call them, to sing and worship and give glory to God. Instrumentalists. But when The disciples saw Jesus doing this. He was consumed with zeal for his father's house, for the worship of the people of God. They remembered that text. And they saw it being fulfilled on that day. Jesus was indeed consumed with zeal for Yahweh and for his worship. You remember, at the Garden of Gethsemane. He was facing the cross the next day, having to carry the weight of the sins of his people. He said, Lord, my father, if there's any way for me to avoid this, please let me avoid it. But yet not my will, but your will be done. So zeal for the worship of God and the service of God consumed Jesus and overcame his hesitancies about going to the cross, his aversion to going to the cross. But you know, the scripture also says in the book of Hebrews, toward the end there, that he despised the shame of the cross, looking forward to the redemption that he would win for his people. He despised it. He said, OK, I got to bear the sins of the world. I don't want to make light of this, but you see that his zeal to accomplish the will of God, to purchase his people, consumed him. And he tucked his head and went for it, for the cross. Well, this is our Lord. He was full of zeal for his father's worship, for his father's honor, his father's glory. Those who would disrupt or destroy the rightful worship of Yahweh engendered his righteous anger. He was the very Son of God. He had the absolute right to overturn the money changers' tables and take a whip and drive the animals out of the temple courts, the court of the Gentiles. This incident in Jesus' early public ministry was an epiphany. It was a revelation that He was indeed the anointed Messiah, the Son of God. And he had the right to exercise his righteous zeal to protect the purity and the sacredness of his father's worship for those who wanted to worship him. The protection of the worship of God's people, their worship of the father was a consuming passion of the Lord Jesus Christ. He went from village to village preaching. He endured 40 days in the wilderness without food, being tempted by Satan to prepare for his public ministry. He went without sleep. He exercised himself extremely rigorously in his ministry because of his zeal to obey his father, to honor him, and to bring about the worship of God's people from every nation. So Christ is indeed worthy of our worship because of his great zeal to protect the people of God's worship. So let us worship Him and give Him thanks for His zeal. Let us do all that we can to enable others to draw near to Him and worship Him. Let us also have zeal in our own lives to worship Him in the fellowship of His people. Let us pray. We thank You, our Father, for the great zeal of the Son of God who was consumed with passion to protect your worship. Thank you, Lord, for his righteous indignation and anger revealed on that day in the temple. Surely a revelation, Lord, of yourself. Help us, Lord, to have zeal for your worship. to protect your worship, to promote your worship, and help others come to this blessed worship of the people of God. We thank you for the Son of God, for his righteousness, his indignation with sin, his zeal to protect your worship. Thank you for this great Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, in whose precious name we pray.